Bloggers Invade D.C.

I am back safe and sound in Chapel Hill and Monday has rudely already arrived, complete with cold weather, rain, and the promise of a long day of class. Clearly there’s nothing to do but reminisce about the awesome weekend I had in D.C., right?

Delicious food, too! Even though I had already eaten a big BLT (plus a fried egg) at home right after the race, I was already hungry again. Gotta love long runs!

I had the Sabzi salad (baby spinach with spicy quinoa, white beans, raw beets, radish, basil, sprouts, dried cranberries; topped with a carrot chili vinaigrette — I also added some apple and sweet potato just for fun):

And a little bit later I somehow found room for frozen yogurt, too 😉 I think I have a separate stomach for Sweetgreen’s frozen yogurt. It’s my absolute favorite!

Thanks for the great lunch, friends! You rock. And a big congrats to Evan for running his first full marathon yesterday! Considering how sore I was after 13.1 miles, I can’t even imagine how sore I’d be after 26.2 😉

I think seriously nearly everyone I know through blogging was in town for the race this weekend! If you’re on twitter, you know we were all using the #bloggersinvadeDC hash tag

In honor of the blogger invasion, we had a big blogger/reader meet up at Northside Social in Clarendon on Saturday night so everyone could mingle. Crazy that I’ve met all these awesome people entirely because of blogging!

Emily is pregnant (!!) so she decided not to run the race this weekend, but was super sweet and still came out and cheered for all of us (along with Caitlin, Brittney, and others)!

(Photos courtesy of Emily — the Casey referenced on the sign is her husband!)

Check out this fun action shot Emily got of me during the race — I was SO excited and surprised to see them all there cheering! I actually saw them at mile 3 AND mile 11 — this photo is from mile 11 Clearly I was still in good spirits!

Anyway! After the meet up Saturday night , a small group of us headed to dinner. Love this photo!

Mmmm. I had the Chesapeake Eggs Benedict, which was sourdough toast topped with crab, bacon, and egg. SO GOOD! I asked them to hold the hollandaise sauce — not a fan.

Whew! I spent the rest of yesterday hanging out with my mom, grandmother, and Matt, and couldn’t believe when it was already time for me to make the drive back to NC! This weekend seriously went by in the blink of an eye.

I’m feeling kind of sad this morning, not only that my fun weekend in DC is over but also that my big race is over!

It’s always kind of sad when something you plan for and prepare for for so long is suddenly over, even if it went amazingly well.

How do you tackle the post-race blues? Should I sign up for another race? Hehe. I’m just happy that after my second half marathon, I actually want to do another one already, unlike after my first half marathon where I basically never wanted to run ever again! 😉

I’m sad the weekend is over, too! I had such a blast running and doing all the fun non-race things. I have another half coming up in May but I’m not necessarily excited about it. We’ll have to figure out another Bloggers Invade _______ sometime soon!

Awesome job on the race!! I wish I could have been there to cheer you guys on. For having that pic taken at mile 11 you look like you DEFINITELY could have easily ran the full without a doubt. Sounds like you guys had a great fun filled (bloggie) weekend. Congrat’s on your half!

Yes, you should definitely sign up for another half-marathon — in the fall, when it gets cool again. And, in the meantime, you should do some shorter races — but no shorter than 5-milers, so that you continue to compete and train (races are great action-forcing mechanisms). And you should, of course, continue both the speed and distance work, trying to keep your mileage a good bit higher than it was when you started training for the Half! You can do that, I’m sure, while also perhaps getting back into the pool and getting more serious about bicycling, too — maybe even doing a short triathlon!

You are so beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the half marathon and I agree with DHP that a triathlon would be awesome. Can’t wait. This weekend, I shared your blog and the race with my sister-in-law and she loved it. I set it on her computer to pull up easily. She has lost weight and is walking the walk like I am. I wish we lived closer so we could walk together. FYI, we had baseball size hail Saturday, unbelievable. Have a great day.

Anne,
I hate when the party’s over….Boooo
However, that means it’s time to plan another one…. Woo-Hoo!!!!

Speaking of a new challenge, when I was in Abu Dhabi 2 weeks ago, there was a Triathlon, and one of the contestants told me all about it….it seems awesome, the guy that flew in from Boston to compete, he was in love with them!

I’m sure you’re qualified…
(I was a competitive swimmer in addition to a Biker, Cross Country, Track & Field, Tennis etc because my twin and I convinced the Dean to allow us to compete in multiple sports all concurrently since we love to compete!)
Complex challenges are so FUN!

If you want something new, go for it?
The newness of anything, is total Nirvana!!!
Life is short, keep enjoying it….

Congratulations! It looked like you had an awesome time, both during and after the race.
I had the same feeling after my wedding was over, but at least there’s always new races to run. Only one wedding
Good luck with whatever comes next!

Congratulations! I ran this race too (it was my first half marathon) and I remember seeing that sign — the one that said “Run Bloggers + Casey!” Kind of cool! I loved the race too, but I was annoyed that there weren’t any mile markers. I had no idea where I was most of the time!
Congratulations on your amazing time!